Thursday, September 21, 2006

Would you sell this?

A little Vegas based soft drink company is offering a new flavor called "Cocaine," and specifically marketing it as a "legal alternative" to actual cocaine.I thought it was interesting since I just mentioned marketing morality a couple days ago.

If sales of this stuff were to somehow result in an increase in sales of actual cocaine by increasing the acceptability of cocaine use or raising the awareness of the effects of cocaine use on the body, do the marketers and retailers bear some culpability?

David Raynes, of the UK National Drug Prevention Alliance, said: "It is people exploiting drugs. It is a pretty cynical tactic exploiting illegal drugs for their own benefit...The fact is that subliminally, it is making the image of drug use cool and that's what kids what to be, cool.Kids will be drinking Cocaine and will inevitably link the two. The drink is relatively innocuous, but they will be linking it with cocaine use and the market, which is far from innocuous."

So would you sell this stuff, either directly to consumers or as a rep for the company selling to retailers? Tell me why, or why not...